A r c h i v e d  I n f o r m a t i o n

When businesses form partnerships with communities and schools, we can make a tremendous difference in the lives of children. I have worked for seven and one-half years to help make these partnerships a major part of our national education policy. We are also working to ensure that our national policies address the rapid increase in the Hispanic population, especially in this information age, when a quality education is so important.

Americans have always understood the importance of education. A book called America 1900, which examines life in the United States at the beginning of the 20th century, highlights this point. Life was different back then. One out of 12 homes had a telephone, and if you did have a phone, a three-minute call from Denver to New York City would cost you $11. Only 14 percent of the homes in the United States had a bathtub. You might want to keep that in mind the next time you hear somebody talking about "the good old days."

But some things haven't changed. A Russian immigrant quoted in the book calls a free education in a free nation a "treasure no thief can touch." That holds true today, for immigrants and native-born Americans alike. Education is a top priority for the members of the New America Alliance, for Hispanics and for every family in America.

Today, I would like to speak about an important education issue to which you may not have given much thought--the federal education budget. The president has proposed a balanced budget that makes needed investments in our schools. But last week, the U.S. House of Representatives passed a budget bill that fails to provide adequate funding for our nation's education priorities.

Let me tell you about a few specific budget issues and the impact they have on states with large Hispanic populations. I think that will be a good way to illustrate the difference between the House bill and the president's proposal.

In Texas, for instance, the House bill would provide about $147 million less than the president's proposal for hiring well-trained teachers and reducing class size. This would deny thousands of Texas children the benefits of smaller classes.

In Texas, the House bill would also provide a much smaller investment in teacher quality, teacher recruitment in high-poverty districts, and aid for students in high-poverty areas to help them learn the basics and meet the academic standards expected of all children.

What effect would all this have on Hispanic students in Texas? As you understand, if we don't support high academic standards and well-trained teachers, particularly in high-poverty districts, many Hispanic students will not receive an adequate education. And if we don't reduce class sizes, then we can be sure that Hispanic students in overcrowded classrooms will be among those who fall through the cracks of our education system.

Class size is not the only budget decision that will have consequences for our children. After-school and summer school opportunities are also at risk. Through the 21st Century Learning Centers program, the president's budget doubles the funding for after-school programs. That means 2.5 million students could participate in after-school programs that offer homework help, tutoring, enrichment and college preparation. Let me tell you, if we can make these programs available to more students, we can go a long way toward closing the achievement gap and helping more young Hispanics graduate from high school.

This program has had a significant positive impact at the state level. In New York, for example, 21st Century grants support "safe and smart" after-school programs for more than 42,000 young people. But in last year's budget, we had to say "no" to more than 50 "fully qualified" applications from New York State because we didn't have enough money. The House bill for this year's budget would repeat the mistake--by failing to raise the funding enough to support all the "fully qualified" applications that we had to turn down.

The president's budget would help communities and states meet another daunting challenge: supporting classrooms that are safe, accessible to all and equipped with modern technology. The president has endorsed a bipartisan school construction bill to provide interest-free bonds, but the majority leadership in the House will not allow it to come to a vote.

By combining the bipartisan bill with the administration's proposal for loans and grants for urgent renovations and repairs, we could leverage almost $60 billion in school construction over five years. And that would help a lot of communities modernize a lot of schools and help deal with overcrowding.

Hispanic students, communities and business would all benefit. For example, according to one estimate, the president's plan would generate more than 300,000 construction jobs in California, Texas, Florida and Illinois. For Hispanics and others in California and in other states, the House of Representatives is ignoring schools that need major repairs. This means no Internet access because the wiring is too old. In short, it means placing a very low priority on education for students who need it most.

A number of other budget items are closely related to education issues affecting the Latino community. As you may know, the Title I program is the most substantial piece of our effort to help students from poor families and low-income neighborhoods meet high academic standards. With one-third of Title I students being Hispanic, this program has a tremendous impact in Hispanic communities.

The president's budget includes more than $15 billion to help close achievement gaps. That includes substantial increases in bilingual programs and Title I grants.

The Hometown Teacher Recruitment program is another initiative that can make a real difference in Hispanic communities. It includes $75 million to help high-poverty districts put students on the path to becoming well-qualified teachers in local schools. This could help local Hispanics become teachers, giving students positive role models who used education to lift themselves up.

I am so pleased that one of your members, Daisy Exp?sito-Ulla of the Association of Hispanic Advertising Agencies, recently announced the Futuramente Campaign, which will encourage Hispanic college students to become teachers. This is an example of a business effort that complements one of our proposals. We need more of this kind of commitment. By itself, the federal budget is not enough. We need companies like Procter & Gamble. We need outreach efforts like the Futuramente Campaign. And we need organizations like the New America Alliance.

If we work together, we can give every child opportunities to succeed. This is important because no individual or group or business in America is a true success unless everyone has opportunities to succeed. It is simple: "Better education is everybody's business." And I have grown fond of a Spanish phrase that also captures the importance of education: "Saber es poder."

We have the opportunity--and the obligation--to invest in our schools. Let's create schools that reflect the high value we place on citizenship, community and learning for all Americans. Let's make sure that when future generations look back on our times, they are grateful that we value education as a "treasure no thief can touch."

Thank you very much.

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